AV News 196 - May 2014
The great benefit of this would be that instead of a pause of indeterminate length
while each sequence is assessed ‘live’, we have a ré sumé from the judge[s] from
prepared notes. The comments are concise, nothing helpful gets missed out, and
the whole process becomes streamlined and smooth running as an event. I have
insisted nowadays that the sequences for the competitions I judge are submitted
to me some days beforehand, and I believe this ensures an even-handed
approach, constructive comment which hopefully is of value to every entrant, and
a smooth running (and relatively stress-free) evening!
An additional advantage of this approach is that any entrant can request a
copy of the judges’ summary if they are not able to be present, rather than be
denied valuable feed-back. I know there has been debate over this, amongst the
video workers, I think. Some are contending that there is value in the initial impact
made by a work, which is certainly true and should be taken into account. Having
worked for the BBC for many years I can hardly deny the importance of this
aspect in writing trailers and the like, but an AV can be a much more complex
thing. It may be a piece which is subtle and delicate in mood, and possibly
profound in meaning, and does not reveal all it has to offer at first sight.
Whew! Well, you did ask for our ideas!
2 0 th G re a t N o rth e rn F e s tiv a l - 5 th to 7 th D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4
Well yes, we did ask for your ideas - as we feel that anyone trying to organise an
event should take the views of the prospective patrons into account! We are
extremely grateful to all those who filled in Questionaires at the last GNF, at least
we knew people really wanted the event to continue.
The crux of Jim’s suggestions would appear to be that we should be actively
encouraging ‘newcomers’ to take part and that maybe they should not be
competing on the same field of play as the more experienced entrants. Also that
they should be able to receive constructive feedback and comments either from
the competition judges themselves or from knowedgeable members of the
audience during an ‘attendee’s sequence’ session.
It is for those reasons that we are to introduce a separate ‘New Horizons’
Competition this year - open to those entrants who have NOT received any
award in ANY National or International Audio Visual Competition, and have NOT
been a previous recipient of the Sir George and Lady Dore